A earlier version of this article has been published in print - see below

Anywhere I turn in the community, it seems there's always someone complaining about some aspect of their health. Most people would think that emotional issues and physical health problems are part and parcel of being a vampire, but for the most part it doesn't have to be - you just need to know how to deal with what comes up, and how to prevent most of it. Here is a list of things you can start with:

KNOW YOUR HISTORY

Know your whole family's medical history (or as much as you can find out), not just what you've been sick with in the past. Some disease tendencies may require you to make changes in your diet, such as if you have one or more family members with Celiac Syndrome (see http://www.celiac.org/ for more info), heart disease, diabetes, or any of a number of other diseases that can be controlled by diet. These dietary changes are important life (and sanity) saving measures if you want to live a long healthy life.

Also learn whether you have allergies or intolerances to food and/or medications, and READ LABELS on the food that you buy, especially the commercially prepared food. If you get an adverse reaction from something, it will be healthier if you can avoid it in the future.

MEDICAL TESTING / DIAGNOSIS

Get medical testing, even if it's just one set of baseline medical exams to establish what's "normal" for your body. If you have particular issues, you can see whether testing can verify the problem exists - medically - and whether it can be treated.

Remember that invasive surgery or rounds of various drugs are NOT always the best answer, but what you do for treatment of any discovered issue is entirely up to you.

VITAMINS & SUPPLEMENTS

Tablets and "caplets" (capsule shaped tablets) are often stuffed with indigestible fillers that will not dissolve in the digestive tract. It is quite common for vitamins such as Centrum to pass through the body untouched, thus giving ZERO benefit to the person taking it.

Capules (made with gelatin-like casings) powders and liquids are correspondingly more expensive HOWEVER they're worth the price, and are much easier to digest. Capsules and powders can be found with higher doses of the vitamin(s) they contain than liquids. (Liquid vitamins usually have sweeteners and colorings added to make it look and taste good, and thus less vitamins overall.)

Concerned about vitamin safety? Concerned that vitamin megadosing will be fatal? I hear lots of stories about how "such and such vitamin is deadly if you take too much" - but there's a curious lack of one thing: bodies. Where are the bodies? If they are that deadly when overdosed, there should a LOT more bodies. And there aren't.

This is not to say that "modern medicine" does not have it's place - accidental trauma and other things needing immediate and/or acute care should be handled by appropriate medical professionals (vitamins WILL help you recover from this, however, once you have the immediate need taken care of.)

Here are a few links to read on that very topic, as a matter of fact:

Doctor Yourself: Death By Medicine
Doctor Yourself: Forgotten Research in Medicine
Doctor Yourself: Minimizing the Use of Medicines
Doctor Yourself: Spot the Vitamin Bashers
Doctor Yourself: Vitamin Safety
Doctor Yourself: Vitamin Toxicity
Doctor Yourself: Why Supplement Your Diet?

My own daily regimen includes the following:

Super stress B-complex (Water soluble; capsule)
If you get the one that works best with your body chemistry (and I went through 12 brands...) you will also find the added bonus of reduction in Thirst. B-vitamins are rapidly depleted when under stress - and who ISN"T under stress these days? Your brain will function better with adequate B-vitamins as well - you'll notice less "fuzzy brain" problems.

Extra Niacin/B-3 (water soluble; capsule)
This is "true" niacin, not "niacinimide" form. This helps keep mood swings, ADD/ADHD, depression and other mental issues under control. This also reduces monthly cycle bloating in women. Niacin also helps lower blood cholesterol.

Readers who have more several emotional or mental issues who wish to try this may find they need a LOT more - perhaps as much as 5,000mg/day or even higher - before there is any real effect.

B-Vitamin Reference Links:

Doctor Yourself: B Vitamins Overview
Doctor Yourself: Niacin Saturation
Doctor Yourself: Niacin and Schizophrenia

Vitamin C (water soluble; powder)
This is the powerhouse of the vitamin world; this is good for staying healthy, getting rid of whatever cold/flu/etc. that you caught this time, and even get rid of cases of animal or bug bites/poison. The key with this vitamin is QUANTITY, QUANTITY, QUANTITY! You have to take ENOUGH of it, in a good form, to do any good.

Because of the quantities most people SHOULD be taking, it's more cost efficient to get this in a powder form. Mall nutrition stores are now starting to stock this in a powder, but you may have to hunt for it as it may be hidden in a back corner. Otherwise, you'll often find it at organic/health food stores.

Vitamin C dosing can be easily controlled by anyone - digestive saturation is reached when you have diahrea (a/k/a "bowel tolerance"). And, you'll need more when you're sick - you'll find you can take more vitamin C before you reach bowel tolerance, so don't be surprised if you find you can take 100,000mg or more without diahrea in a day when you're seriously ill.

Vitamin C Reference Links:

Doctor Yourself: Dosage Table for Vitamin C
Doctor Yourself: Vitamin C Thereaputics
Doctor Yourself: Practical Notes on Vitamin C Therapy
Doctor Yourself: Vitamin C Titration (long)

You should also buy (or borrow) this book:

Vitamin C, Infectious Diseases, and Toxins
by Thomas E. Levy, M.D., J.D.
ISBN: 1-4010-6963-0 (Trade Paperback)
ISBN: 1-4010-6964-9 (Hardback)

Read an excerpt from the book

Vitamin D (fat soluble; gelcap)
I started taking this because, like most of us, I don't get out in the sun a whole lot. I discovered a nice bonus of pain relief and general well-being. (The amount of pain people experience is influenced by how much vitamin D is in their bodies, and not being in pain always feels good.) Vitamin D is also necessary for processing calcium that you take in - lack of vitamin D makes osteoperosis much more likely. Research is also showing stronger links between Vitamin D levels in the body and susceptibility to diseases in general.

Vitamin D is commonly sold mixed with vitamin A. You'll have best luck looking in an organic food store for a vitamin D pill that is not mixed with vitamin A, or find one that has beta-carotene instead of vitamin A.

I take 4,000 units/day (10 gelcaps @ 400 units each) - or more

Vitamin D Reference links:

Doctor Yourself: Vitamin D Theraputics
Doctor Yourself: Osteoperosis
Vitamin D Council: Press Release Page

Vitamin E (fat soluble; gelcap)
Heart (cardiovascular) disease issues are a fairly common problem in the USA. The first vampyre aging conference in June 2005 revealed that a lot of older vamps had also noticed heart issues as they got older.

Vitamin E has been used by Drs. Wilfrid and Evan Shute in the effective treatment of heart disease, at dosages ranging from 800 to 3,000 IU/day, depending on the underlying cause of the heart problems.

Vitamin E Reference Links:

Doctor Yourself: Vitamin E Theraputics
Doctor Yourself: The Vitamin E Story

Multivitamin (capsule; mix of water/fat soluble vitamins)
This catches all the miscellaneous vitamins and other nutrients that are not covered by what I take above. Such assorted things include Vitamin A, iron, calcium, copper, biotin, and more.

Multivitamin Reference Links:

Doctor Yourself: Why Take Vitamin Food Supplements?
Doctor Yourself: Newsletter - August 2001

Want to know how much I take of each?
With the exception of Vitamin C, my vitamins are made by a company called Vitamer and sold through a few of my local health food stores. If you wish to use the same types I am, you'll have to look around and see who sells them in your area, or drop them an email and find out what individual stores in your area sell their products. Vitamer's labels will appear basically the same (layout and typeface) but there may be differences in paper color, as well as store logo and if they have a "store tagline" printed on it as well. Each link below takes you to a page with information about each vitamin's formulation and contents.

Supreme Stress B (capsule; water soluble)
I take 1 capsule, sometimes 2 capsules a day.

Flush Free Niacin (B-3) (capsule; water soluble)
I take 1,000mg/day (or more) in addition to the B-complex I already take.

Vitamin C (powder; water soluble)
I take 15,000-30,000mg a day (yes, that's 15-30 GRAMS)

Vitamin D (gelcap - *just* vitamin D; fat soluble)
I take 4,000 units/day (10 pills @ 400 units each, 4 @ 1,000 units each)

Vitamin E, "d-alpha tocopheral" form (gelcap; fat soluble)
I take 1,000 IU's/day

Ultimate (Multivitamin) Capsule (Capsule; mix of fat and water soluble vitamins)
I take 1 capsule, 3 times daily (breakfast/lunch/dinner timing).

Yes, this is a LOT of vitamins to take every day! However, not having many of the sickness and disease problems that I hear about from many people posting on message boards and other communication mediums makes it ALL worthwhile. :)

Keeping in mind that I live in the USA, I spend less for a YEAR's worth of vitamins - for TWO PEOPLE - than I would spend for two months of good quality health-care plan premiums.

You do the math. :)

GOOD DIET

A handful of bean sprouts each day, raw, will reduce the painful effects of light sensitivity WITHOUT reducing your night vision. If you don't like the flavor, drown them in whatever salad dressing will help you choke them down. The key is daily, and raw.

Stick to a diet primarily of vegetables and fruits (as well as some fresh fish for the fish oils if you can stand it - take a supplement containing Omega-3 fatty acids if you can't stand the fish.) The body won't have to work as hard processing toxins and other unhealthy things if you cut out as much of the junk food and McFood (fast food) as possible. If you just can't give up candies and other junk food altogether, then just have them on an occasional basis. One or two candy bars a month, for example. See the movie "Supersize Me" if you want to understand why a little better.

If you need beef in your diet, make sure it's GOOD quality beef, not cheap bargain store or McFood beef. Make sure it's a cut well away from the brain and spinal area to reduce the risk of "Mad Cow", and choose grain-fed beef and/or organic beef over regular if you can, and if you have the money.

SUMMARY

There is no harm in knowing your medical history, as well as promoting good health and a healthy diet. Everyone should pay more attention to what their body needs (or doesn't need!) for good health, regardless of what category you feel you fit into.

This article is presented as part of an ongoing effort to present other views outside of, as well as within, the online vampire community. As such, the views and attitudes contained in this article are entirely those of the author(s), and may not necessarily be shared by SphynxCatVP. The webmaster is not under obligation to update or otherwise keep current the contents of this article. Most importantly, only you can decide for yourself whether this article or any of the author(s) other views are useful or applicable to you - use your own reasoning and judgment.

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